Climate change and the planned relocation of people: A longitudinal analysis of Vunidogoloa, Fiji

Rising sea levels under a changing climate will cause permanent inundation, flooding, coastal erosion, and saltwater intrusion. An emerging adaptation response is planned relocation, a directed process of relocating people, assets, and infrastructure to safer locations. Climate-related planned relocation is an unfolding process, yet no longitudinal studies have examined outcomes over time. Vunidogoloa, a low-lying coastal village in Fiji, relocated to higher land in 2014. This paper considers the dynamic outcomes of relocation, based on qualitative data collected between 2015 and 2023. It examines: residents' changing experience of climate and environmental risk; governance and decision-making processes over time; improved access to many resources and services along with incomplete infrastructure; opportunities and threats to health; and changing social organization and place-based values. The paper foregrounds change over time and provides in-depth examination of dynamic planned relocation experiences and (mal)adaptation outcomes in Vunidogoloa, Fiji.